Warrior Gamer Online
by D-nasty
Summary: Naruto winds up in the Sword Art Online universe to be given a better life. And for years he was content, but he will soon find himself fighting for his life when he is trapped in a game for life and death. Well bring it on! Cause even in a different universe, Naruto will show he's a powerful force not to be messed with. Naruharem!
1. New Family

Chapter 1 New Family

We come to a large japanese-style house in the kitchen where a lightly tan skinned 37 year old woman having black hair tied in a bun as bangs framed her forehead with black eyes wearing a dark blue jacket with a white shirt under it, dark blue pants, and black shoes was cooking breakfast with a lightly tan skinned 38 year old man having black hair that is parted in the middle with black eyes wearing a dark blue hoodie, black pants, and green boots was at the table reading the newspaper.

"Minetaka-kun, are those two up yet?" The woman asked looking at the man.

"They should be getting up last time I checked up on them, Midori-chan." The man said looking up from his paper at the woman.

"Don't worry, Kaa-chan and Tou-chan. We're up."

"Yeah, we just had to get ready for the day."

Midori and Minetaka turned to the door to see two teen walk through the door.

The first was a 13 year old girl having black bob style hair as bangs framing her forehead that had two grey hairclips on the sides of her head above her ears with dark grey almost blackish eyes wearing a black shirt, blue pants, and blue shoes.

The second was a 15 year old boy having spiky blonde hair with blue eyes wearing a crimson long sleeved shirt, black pants, and black boots.

"I bet. No doubt Suguha was hogging the bathroom and Naruto wanted extra sleep." Minetaka teased.

"You're right there Tou-chan." The girl giggled.

"Hey! Do you know how much sleep I need to look this good? Soon I'll be a heartthrob." The boy huffed crossing his arms.

"I have no doubt you will be." Midori chuckled.

"Kaa-chan, don't encourage him." Suguha sighed.

"You know I'm right Sugu-chan. My Naru-kun is going to be so handsome when he's older, and then my dream of spoiling grandbabies will come true!" Midori squealed twirling around.

"Again with the grandbabies." Minetaka sweatdropped.

"Well all mothers DO want grandbabies." Naruto stated.

"Must be a Mom thing." Suguha shrugged.

This was the normal life of the Kirigaya family that consist of married couple Minetaka and Midori their adopted son Naruto and birth child Suguha.

One night 15 years ago a 23 year old Minetaka and 22 year old Midori found a baby Naruto alone in a alley crying his heart out with a scroll beside him and his skin was as cold as ice from being out in the cold night and they decided to take him back to their house. From the scroll they found out his name was Naruto and he was born on October 10th, Minetaka wanted to report this to the police for child abandonment and endangerment, but Midoru felt a sudden connection with the baby boy. When Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the Kirigaya couple he laughed with joy and that immediately warmed and struck their hearts which led them to adopt him calling him Naruto Kirigaya.

For the next two years Naruto has been Midori and Minetaka's little sunshine as they called him cause of his hair and every moment they loved being parents. It got better when Midori found out she was pregnant and going to have a baby girl she and Minetaka were ecstatic while Naruto was overjoyed and couldn't wait to be a big brother. The days during the pregnancy were stressful, but Naruto's cheerfulness made things up for it, especially when he started to help Midori with everything she needed when Minetaka couldn't. It was sweet and thoughtful that made them love Naruto even more and knew he was going to be an amazing man when he grew up.

When the baby came and was named Suguha Kirigaya both parents were overjoyed for the new addition to the family. When Naruto delicately held his new baby sister Suguha looked at him and giggled as if showing she loved her new big brother and Naruto laughed with her showing he felt the same way while Minetaka and Midoru could only look at their children with content knowing an unbreakable bond was shared between them.

And it really became an unbreakable bond as Naruto cared for Suguha like a saint when the parents were busy, and as they got older Naruto and Suguha did everything together, play games, watch tv, went to the park, take up kendo and martial arts, they even played in the tub together treating it like a water wonderland. Naruto and Suguha had the best of times and the worst of times, but they always had each others back.

When they started school things were tough for Naruto as people always picked on him or said mean things cause of his hair as everyone thought he was a delinquent who dyed his hair. It got even harder when people bullied him and he retallied by fighting and beating them up especially when it came to other people being bullied. Everyone stayed away from him and no one wanted to be his friend. It got so bad that one day when Naruto came home he had black hair dye in his hand and about to change his hair color so people will like him and he could fit in.

But when the family heard and saw what he was about to do they were livid.

 _"Now listen to me my little sunshine. Those people are just jerks who can't understand someone as wonderful as you. You're not the problem they are. You don't need to change anything about yourself sweetie." Midori soothed._

 _"That's right my boy. You always go out your way to help those who need it without expecting anything in return. You are a protector. Someone who defends others cause it's right. Don't give in to what people want from you. Stay true to yourself, cause we love the way you are." Minetaka said strongly._

 _"Yeah! Onii-chan is fine the way he is! To me your way is like a ray of hope that gives me strength to take on any obstacle that is thrown at me! Never change who you are! To me you are the best guy there is, and can take on anything that's thrown your way! Never forget that, Onii-chan!" Suguha shouted out passionately._

From that day Naruto stayed true to himself and never looked back.

For his family.

It was only recently when he turned 13 did he discover something shocking.

He was from another dimension.

Naruto one night got his memories back from his past life and remembered everything. He also knew that he was given a new life here to make up for the one he had in the Elemental Nation. And while he missed his loved one in his old life, he was content with the life he now had.

He also started to get his powers back, but he felt he didn't really need them now and swore he would only use them in a serious and dire situation.

"So any plans for today kids?" Midori asked setting the food on the table.

"Me and Sugu-chan will be practicing our kendo skills in the dojo." Naruto said.

"Yeah according to grandpa, we're getting better and better with our training." Suguha grinned.

"Well that's wonderful to hear. Learning from him works wonders considering he was a policeman and kendo champion." Minetaka smiled.

"Matter of fact his birthday should be coming up soon." Midori said.

"That's right. Me and Naru-kun are gonna spend the whole day with him." Suguha said.

"No doubt he'll love that." Naruto said.

"Well I wouldn't doubt it." Minetaka chuckled.

"Well then how about we eat breakfast before we start the day." Midori giggled.

The family ate breakfast while talking about other things they'll be doing today and laughing at a joke hear and there. When they finished everyone helped with the dishes and clean up before Naruto and Suguha went to the dojo.

Dressed in keikogi and hakama with protective armor over them Naruto and Suguha stood across from each other and bowed before taking the basic kendo stance pointing their shinai at one another.

It was quite til they both charged forward and hit their shinai against each other, Naruto then striked downwards but Suguha jumped back dodging it before she swung her shinai sideways only for her attack to be blocked. Naruto directed the shinai upward before he fenced Suguha in the gut causing her to stagger back. Getting her footing again Suguha leaped at Naruto and slammed down her shinai onto his, but that was want she wanted as she twirled around and redirected his shinai and swiped across his chest making Naruto skid back.

"How do you like that, Naru-kun?" Suguha grinned.

"Not bad Suga-chan." Naruto smirked.

They bothed charged again exchanging slashes, feint attack, and blows to one another looking like to be evenly matched, but as the battle was going it looked like Naruto was getting the upper hand on Suguha. Suguha tried a three-hit strike but Naruto was able to dodge out the way before he hit her on the head, on her side, and on the chest making her fall to her knees.

She quickly got up and swiped her shinai upwards like an uppercut nailing Naruto under his chin and into the air but he quickly backflipped to center himself back on his feet before leaping at Suguha and twirled around in a tornado getting through her defenses knocking her shinai out her hands and her into the ground where Naruto had his shinai pointed at her face.

"Looks like I win this one." Naruto stated.

"Darn it." Suguha pouted.

Naruto then helped Suguha up before they set their shinai and armor aside and sat on the porch looking at their backyard to take a break and enjoy their relaxation.

"How many matches is that now?" Naruto asked.

"62 to 56, with you still leading." Suguha huffed.

"Come on Sugu-chan. Don't get so bent out of shape about it." Naruto said.

"We started kendo together! So how is it you're better than me?!" Suguha whinned.

"Well I am older. And the older sibling is suppose to be stronger than the younger one."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it! We're suppose to be equals!"

"Look at it this way." Naruto grabbed Suguha and put her in his lap making her squeak as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "The way I am now, you'll know that I'll always be there to protect you." He smiled.

Suguha sighed before smiling at Naruto and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I know you'll always protect me, Onii-chan. I just don't want to feel left behind." She confessed.

"I'll never leave you behind, Imouto-chan. Next to Tou-chan and Kaa-chan, you're the most important thing in the world to me." Naruto said passionately.

Smiling at one another Naruto and Suguha held each other tighter and enjoyed the moment between them.

Later that day Naruto was in his room on his computer desk watching a video from said computer about some merc with a mouth fightning against a peppy party pony.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh man! That's rich!" Naruto laughed trying to not bust a gut.

"Sweetie?" Naruto paused the video and turned around to see Midori walking through the door with a basket of clothes.

"Yeah, Kaa-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Do you think you could help me with the laundry? Your father went out to get the groceries, and Suguha felt to hang with her friends." Midori requested.

"Sure thing, Kaa-chan. I'm always hapy to help." Naruto smiled getting up from the desk.

"Thank you, my little sunshine." Midori smiled.

"Kaa-chan, I'm older now. You can't keep calling me little sunshine." Naruto rubbed the back of his head embarrassed.

"You know I can't. No matter how old you get you'll always be a little sunshine that can light up my day." Midori giggled.

While he wanted to be embarrassed, Naruto couldn't help but love how Midori felt about him thinking he could always light up her day.

Naruto and Midori went towards the laundry room and began to put the dirty clothes into the washer and took the clean clothes out the dryer. They then made their way into the living room and began folding up clothes.

"So Naruto, I've been meaning to ask you something." Midori said.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"How have you been doing with your studies?" Midori wondered.

"Doing good. I'm one of the top three smartest kids in my school." Naruto said.

"That's good to hear, sweetie."

"Well you did say a real man is both strong and smart."

"Did I say that?"

"Yeah. You said it was one of the things that attracted you to Tou-chan."

"I'm surprised you'd paid attention to that."

"Come on, Kaa-chan. You always say that one of the ways to win a girl over is that you listen to her when she talk. That shows you care what she saids, you're a good listener, and you don't think low of women."

"I have taught you well if you take my lesson to heart."

"You know what you be talking about when you give me advise on how to earn a girl's heart."

"Aww, my little man." Midori cooed pincing Naruto cheek affectionately.

"Kaa-chan! Cut it out!" Naruto laughed.

Naruto and Midori played around a little bit more before they finished the clothes just in time for Minetaka to come back with the groceries.

"I see you're back." Midori said setting the basket of folded clothes down.

"Yep, and I got everything you wanted." Minetaka said holding the bags up.

"Perfect. I can get started on our favorite dinner." Midori said taking the bags.

"You mean beef stew with macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and meat buns?!" Naruto exclaimed drooling at the thought.

"You know it." Midori winked before heading to the kitchen.

"Oh man, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it." Naruto grinned.

"Well how about before you drool about food you help me with the car in the garage?" Minetaka chuckled.

"What's wrong with it?" Naruto asked.

"Not the family car, the other one. The one I'll give you when your older." Minetaka said.

"Oh, sure." Naruto nodded.

Minetaka and Naruto went to the big garage where there were two cars. A black mercedes suv and a red buick cadillac.

"So what's wrong with the cadillac?" Naruto asked.

"Just a few things that need a few tweaking. I'm sure us two dudes can handle it." Minetaka grinned.

"You betcha." Naruto grinned back.

Minetaka and Naruto began fixing up the things that needed to be fix for the car.

"So tell me son, have you been able to make any friends yet?" Minetaka asked.

"None yet, Tou-chan. People are still on the fence about me." Naruto huffed.

"I guess they still think you're a delinquent. It's a shame people can't see you for who you are."

"I'm not worried. If they judge me by my looks alone, that proves how shallow they are."

"Can't argue with that. Also what was that about being a heartthrob this morning?"

"I know I have good looks Tou-chan. I guarantee girls with throw themselves at me as I get older."

"How can you be so sure."

"Fangirls."

They both shuddered at that.

"Are they small?" Minetaka asked.

"Luckly they are, but I'm sure they'll grow when I'm older." Naruto said.

"Just make sure you find a girl that loves you for you." Minetaka smiled.

"You got it, Tou-chan." Naruto smiled back.

The two guys worked on the cadillac for a few more hourse before they finished just as Suguha came into the garage.

"Have you guys been out here long?" Suguha asked.

"Awhile yeah. We just finished on the cadillac." Minetaka said coming out from under said car.

"This baby will be good to go when I come of age." Naruto said closing the hood.

"Well Kaa-chan said that she's done with dinner and wanted me to come get you guys." Suguha said.

"You've been home long?" Naruto asked.

"No, I got home ten minutes ago." Suguha said.

"Well why don't we go inside and enjoy our favorite dinner?" Minetaka grinned.

"Yeah." Naruto and Suguha nodded.

That night the Kirigaya family enjoyed their favorie dinner with laughs and stories, just basking in the family love that they had for one another. When they were done they enjoyed a family silence watching tv of their favorite hour long program. As it went off the family each went to their rooms to turn in for the night.

As Naruto got ready for bed his computer flashed getting his attention. Going towards it he saw that he got an email.

"That's strange. No one has my address." Naruto muttered opening up the email.

 **Congratulations!**

 **You have been chosen to be one of the beta testers for the Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online or VRMMO for short RPG, Sword Art Online! Test a game that will literally make you a part of the adventure! This is a once in a lifetime oppertunity! If you are interested, follow the directions given to you to the facility where you can begin your mind-blowing adventure!**

 **By Kayaba Akihiko**

"I've heard of him. He's a world known scientest wanting to make an epic breakthrough in gaming and computers." Naruto said thinking about this golden opportunity he was given. "Why not see what this game Sword Art Online is about. The games I've been playing lately have become boring as of late." He smiled. "Who knows, it could give me a thriller."

Having decided Naruto got off his computer and layed in bed dreaming about the new game he was going to be testing.


	2. I Will Survive

Chapter 2 I Will Survive

 _"It's time for this week's MMO Stream! We began with a promotional video. Was this the day of last week's launch? What were all these people waiting in line for? Sword Art Online! The one at the front of the line waited for three days prior to launch. Amazing! Or is this just what any real gamer would do? On today's MMO Stream, we'll be covering the internationally famous Sword Art Online, aka SAO! To be honest, none of the NerveGear software released so far has really taken advantage of the hardware. But SAO was made of the NerveGear inventor, Kayaba Akihiko, and it's a long-awaited VR MMORPG. I can't wait! The beta testers all said it was incredible. I wanted a copy... Only ten thousand copies were sold in its first printing. It sold out online in seconds. And as you saw, hardcore fans bought all the store copies."_

"I'm not surprised. With how the other beta testers talked to everyone about they became hooked on playing the game themselves." Naruto chuckled to himself sitting on the couch watching tv about the game, Sword Art Online.

And he can't really blame them.

When he tried SAO for the first time he was blown away.

The message wasn't lying when it said you will literally make a part of the adventure.

The game sends your mind into the game making her feel a part of everything in there. It was an experience he couldn't descripe.

It was like being transfered to another world.

Naruto knew right then and there he was hooked on Sword Art Online.

Months of fighting monsters, doing quests, finding treasure both rare and regular items, talking to other beta testers about improving your skills.

It just made Naruto love the game even more, and he was still counting himself lucky from receiving and accepting that message becoming one of the beta testers.

"People really are going crazy for that new game." Suguha said coming up behind Naruto wearing her school uniform that consist of a gray sweater attached to a black sailor-style collar that had a yellow ribbon is tied in the front under it and laced through a loop attached to the sweater, a black pleated skirt, black knee socks, and black shoes.

"Well duh. People couldn't stop talking about it and waiting for it to come out." Naruto said.

"I still say it's weird. Your mind leaving your body and becoming part of a game. That just seems unnatural." Suguha frowned.

"Well we are always discovering new things. And one of the human life is that we adapt." Naruto said looking at his sister.

"Yeah, but still." Suguha sighed before looking at Naruto. "But from the way you discriped it, this Sword Art Online is a journey of it's own."

"It really is. The old games I use to played got blown away by this one." Naruto said.

"I know. You didn't stop talking about it for like a week." Suguha teased.

"Hehe." Naruto chuckled scratching the back of his head making Suguha giggle. "You sure you don't want to experince this with me? It'll be really fun if we go together."

"I'll wait for more positive feedback before I make a final decision." Suguha said.

"Well alright." Naruto shrugged.

"Anyway I need to get going and head on over to kendo practice. I need to get better if I want to keep up with you." Suguha smiled.

"Be sure to give it your all." Naruto grinned.

"You got it. I should be back by the time Kaa-chan and Tou-chan get back from work." Suguha said before leaning down and kissed Naruto on the right cheek surprising him a little. "I'll see you later, Onii-chan. Love you!" She said grabbing her stuff and headed on out.

"Love you too, Imouto-chan!" Naruto called out to her. Hearing the door close Naruto couldn't but shake his head chuckling. "That girl." Getting up from the couch and turning off the tv Naruto made his way towards his room to get ready to dive in Sword Art Online. He setted it up earlier but wanted to watch tv and see Suguha off before started to play.

When he sat down on his head he grabbed a odd streamlined helmet that had a dark blue color and at the back is a long pad with a wire the same color as it stretching out of it.

It was a NerveGear, and it was essential to have one to be able to play SAO.

Naruto hooked it up to his computer, put the helmet on his head, and lied down on his bed in a comfortable position, grinning as the clock on the HUD of his helmet hit 1pm.

"Link... START!"

A storm of color lines engulfed his vision before going into system checks.

 **(Touch) – (OK)**

 **(Sight) – (OK)**

 **(Hearing) – (OK)**

 **(Taste) – (OK)**

 **(Smell) – (OK)**

 **[Language] – [Japanese]**

 **Log in_::**

 **:account [*********]**

 **:password [******]**

 **-Character Creation-**

 **Beta test still available. Would you like to use it?**

 **[Naruto (M)]**

 **(YES) (NO)**

 **(YES)**

 **Welcome to Sword Art Online!**

Naruto blinked. He looked down at his feet, looked around, and moved his arm to see his hand. Grinning once more, he clenched his hand.

Naruto's avatar looked like a older version of himself looking like a grown man with his hair going to his upperback and a bang covering his right eye wearing a crimson long sleeved shirt with a brown cloth armor over his chest, gray fingerless gloves, black pants, and black boots.

"I'm back. And ready to play." Naruto declared as new players appeared all around him in blue lights on the first floor of the floating castle of Aincard.

* * *

 **Floor 1: Town of Beginnings**

Naruto was racing through the streets passing stalls and players meeting each other. He made his way into a alley for a shortcut.

"Hey! You there!"

Naruto stopped from a male voice and turned around to find a young man having red hair that went to his shoulders wearing a dark red cloth wrapped around his head and a light beard with brown eyes wearing a long sleeved white shirt with a brown cloth armor over his chest, brown fingerless gloves, brown pants, and brown boots chasing after him. He stopped in front of him and panted, putting his hands on his knees.

"Can I help you?" Naruto asked.

"You move like you've been here before." The red haired man huffed before standing up. "Were you in beta test phase?"

"Guilty." Naruto chuckled. "Why you ask?"

"Today's my first day. Can you show me the basics? Like, you know, tips?" The young man asked.

"The basics?" Naruto asked. "Well~"

"Please?" The man put his hands together pleading. "I'm beggin' you!"

"Mmm, maybe." Naruto said shrugging. "You got a name?"

"My name's Klein." The redhead confirmed thumbing to himself smiling. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, my name is Naruto." Naruto introduced before smirking. "I'm expecting great things from you since you want my help, so don't disappoint me."

"You got it!" Klein shouted saluting.

* * *

 **Floor 1: Town of Beginnings, West Field**

"GAH!"

Naruto cringed as he witnessed an enemy boar with red eyes ram Klein right in the crotch, making him fly back and crash to the ground.

"Right in the nuts..." Klein groaned rolling around on the ground, holding his manbits.

"You got hit by a Critical Hit." Naruto noted. "In the game, only Critical Hits from an enemy attack cause pain. Luckily, the rest don't."

"Worst...feature...ever..." Klein groaned as he got up.

Naruto just sighed at him.

"Listen Klein, what's important is your initial motion input." Naruto said.

"Sure, I get that, but the damn boar keeps moving around." Klein complained pointing to the boar that was shaking its butt at him.

"Don't worry Klein, it's easy." Naruto assured him as he picked up a rock. "If you do the motion input right by focusing..."

Naruto focused with the little rock shining a bright red. "...and activate a sword skill..."

Naruto threw it at the boar, the rock hitting the boar in the ass and angering it. "...the system will ensure that the technique connects."

"Motion input...motion input..." Klein muttered to himself looking at his curved katana.

"How does one put it..." Naruto said taking the sword out from behind him then booted the boar on its side angering it before attacking him as Naruto moved his sword to hold the boar down by it's tusks. "Add a slight pause when focusing, and when you feel the skill begin to activate, let it explode when you attack!"

"Explode?" Klein wondered before finally understanding and took a stance with his curved katana over his right shoulder, the blade starting to glow bright yellow.

"Good." Naruto smiled at that. "Here it comes!" He deflected the boar's attack and kicked it towards Klein who was ready to strike.

"RAH!" Klein let out a battle cry and successfully used the thrust skill on the boar leaving a red gash on its side, defeating it and making it explode in a shower of blue data shards when its HP gauge hit zero.

 **[Result]**

 **[Exp] – [24]**

 **[Col] – [30]**

 **[Items] – [2]**

"All right! I did it!" Klein cried out proud of himself.

"Congrats my friend. Looks like you picked up on my teachings pretty quickly." Naruto said as he gave Klein a high-five. "However..." Naruto gave a playful smirk. "That lowly boar's about as weak as those annoying slimes in the other games."

"Eh?! Seriously? I thought it was a mid-level boss or something!" Klein complained.

"Are you serious? Of course not." Naruto deadpanned pointing to some newly spawned boars. "So how do you like SAO so far?" He asked as Klein practiced his new sword skill. "Pretty exciting eh?"

"Hell yeah!" Klein exclaimed. "There are lots of skills, right? Like blacksmithing, fishing, cooking, and other stuff?"

"Right on the money. Heard there are supposedly unlimited number of skills." Naruto informed him. "However in exchange, there's no magic."

"An RPG without magic huh? That's a pretty bold decision." Klein noted as he now practiced a slash skill.

"Tell me about. I kinda like games that have magic. Though there are rumors that players with certain high enough stats can get special skills reserved only for them." Naruto pointed out. "They're also talking about creating job classes in the next patch as well."

Klein nodded as he suddenly cheered at getting the hang of sword skills.

"Even though we're in out avatars, isn't it more fun to move your body as you fight?" Naruto asked amused by Klein's enthusiasm.

"Hell yeah!" Klein said excitedly.

"Good!" Naruto nodded. "Shall we move on to the next monster?"

"Oh yeah, keep em comin!" Klein cheered.

Naruto and Klein kept on hunting monsters until sunset. Now they're on the grass, taking a well-deserved rest.

"I still can't believe it, no matter how many times I see it. That we're finally in a video game." Klein said as he was laying down. "Whoever made this is a genius. It's really amazing... You know, I'm glad I was born in this time."

"You made a big deal out of everything." Naruto chuckled as he was sitting down with his right arm on his knee.

"Aw come on man! It's my first full dive!" Klein protested. "Players like me can't even contain their excitement."

"I can't blame you. I was the same when I first dived in this game." Naruto said. "So I take it this is your first time playing a game with a NerveGear?" He asked.

"I rushed out and bought the hardware to play SAO." Klein explained. "I was really lucky to get one of the ten-thousand copies. Well, you were ten times as lucky, getting into the beta test stage. Hard to believe that you were part of the thousand people who got to do it."

"I guess you could say something like that." Naruto shrugged as he scratched the back of his head.

"How far did you get in the beta?" Klein asked curious.

"I got as far as the eighth floor in a couple of months. But this time, it'll only take about a month if things are the same." Naruto said with a smile on his face as he and Klein looked over at the setting sun.

"You're really into this." Klein said with a grin on his face.

"It was by chance I got to be one of the beta testers. The other games I played weren't really doing it for me. But onced I got the first taste of Sword Art Online, I was hooked. To me this is like going to another world for specific people where you can have fun and adventures without any consequences. In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go. At least that's how I feel." Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah, I see where you're coming from with that." Klein chuckled too.

"You want to do some more hunting?" Naruto asked him.

"Of course! I'd love to..." Klein nodded quickly before a gurgling sounded came from his stomach making him hold it. "But I'm really hungry, so I'm logging out."

"Eating food here only makes you think you're not hungry." Naruto pointed out.

"I already ordered a pizza to be delivered at 5:30pm!" Klein grinned as he gave a thumbs up.

"You're so prepared." Naruto laughed.

"Yup! Well, once I've eaten, I'll be back, and after this, I'm meeting with some people I know from another game. Want to friend them too?" Klein asked as he stood up.

"Sure." Naruto shrugged.

"Listen Naruto, thank's for all your help and guidance. I'll repay you for this sometime... Mentally that is." Klein said.

"I'll hold you to that." Naruto said.

"Thanks so much man." Klein said as he put out his hand. "I'll see you all around."

"If there's anything else you want to know, just contact me." Naruto said as he shook Klein's hand. "You'll no doubt see me around."

"Yeah, I'll definitely do that!" Klein smiled and waved at him before turning around opening up the game menu to log out.

"Might as well hunt some more before heading out myself. Maybe tell Suguha about the day I had in here." Naruto smiled turning around and about to walk off.

When suddenly he heard Klein's confused voice saying, "Huh? There's no button to log out."

"Look closer." Naruto suggested looking back at him.

"No, it's not here." Klein said checking again.

Naruto sighed as he opened the options menu. "Come on man, it's at the bottom of the main menu- what the?" Only to see there wasn't a log out button on his main menu either.

"See? Not there." Klein told them.

"Definitely not." Naruto agreed.

"Well, It's the first day out of beta. There are bound to be some bugs. I'm sure the server people are freaking out..." Klein joked laughing nervously.

"In a second, you will be too." Naruto also laughed pointing at the clock on his HUD. "Because right now, it's 5:25pm."

Klein blinked before he started to freak out. "NO~! MY TERIYAKI MAYO PIZZA AND GINGER ALE~GAH~!"

"Just hurry and call the game master, dude." Naruto said trying to calm him down.

"I tried, but nothing's happening." Klein said pointing at the GM Calling icon. "Is there any other way to log out?"

"No, if a player wants to log themselves out, they have to go through the menu." Naruto frowned.

"That's nuts! There's gotta be another way." Klein exclaimed before starting to do some poses. "Return! Log out! Escape!"

But nothing happened.

"No Trans Out?" Naruto joked before turning serious. "But it's like I told you...plus, there wasn't an emergency logout in the manual either."

"Oi, You're kidding, right? I know! I'll just rip the NerveGear off my head." Klein said as he tried to yank the invisible helmet off his head.

"You can't." Naruto shook his head. "Right now, we can't move our real bodies. The NerveGear intercepts anything we tell our bodies to do here." He said pointing to the back of his head.

"Seriously? So we have to wait for them to fix the bug?" Klein asked.

"Or for someone in the real world to remove the NerveGear from us." Naruto shrugged.

"But I live alone!" Klein wailed. "What about you?"

"I have a mom, a dad, and a little sister. So I think they'll notice by dinnertime..." Naruto said crossing his arms.

At that Klein grabbed Naruto's shoulders.

"How old's your little sister?" He asked suddenly smiling.

"What? She's on a sports team. And she's like 13 years old." Naruto said.

"That doesn't ma-" Klein exclaimed in excitement.

Only for Naruto to snap and knee Klein in the groin sending him flying.

"Geez, control your hormones. And my sister's off limits to anyone." Naruto huffed crossing his arms back as Klein rolled around on the ground. "More importantly, don't you find this weird?"

"Sure I do." Klein groaned from the ground before sitting up. "It's just a bug."

"This isn't just a bug." Naruto shook his head before looking out in the distance. "If we can't log out, it'll pose a serious threat for the future of virtual gaming."

"Come to think of it, you're right." Klein nodded as he got up.

"If they wanted to, they could just shut down the server and log everyone out." Naruto said. "But there isn't even an announcement..."

"Hmm..." Klein hummed bringing his fingers to his chin in thought.

Suddenly a loud bell started ringing, making the two players turn back towards the Town of Beginnings. Then before they knew it they disappeared in a flash of blue light.

* * *

 **Floor 1: Town of Beginnings**

Naruto and Klein suddenly appeared at the starting point of SAO, and looked around to see other players appearing in blue light.

"What's going on?" asked one player.

"I don't know." Another player answered back.

"A forced teleport?" Naruto wondering what the hell's going on as the bell stopped ringing. "First there's no log out button and now this?"

"Up there!" Someone shouted pointing to the sky and drawing everyone attention to the red blinking panel up there.

"That's..." Naruto frowned before he used his enhanced vision to see that the panel said "WARNING" then another panel expanded appeared saying "System Announcement" as more panels appeared and they spread across the sky turning the sky red.

"What is that?" Klein wondered out loud as what looked like blood poured from the in between the panels and slowly formed into a figure with a red robe and hood, hiding it's face.

"A game master?"

"Why doesn't he have a face?"

"Is this an event?"

"I'm scared…"

"It's fine. It's just another part of the opening ceremony."

" **Attention players. Welcome to my world.** " The robed figure greeted waving its arms.

""My world?"" Naruto repeated.

" **My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world.** "

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as murmurs broke out after the claim.

"Is that really him?"

"He must've spent a lot of time on this."

" **I'm sure you're already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game.** " Kayaba said as he opened his own menu, showing the logout button missing.

Naruto shook his head to make sure he was hearing right.

" **I repeat… this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online.** "

"A-A feature?" Klein repeated as looks of confusion appeared on almost everyone's faces.

"If that what you calls a feature, then you lost your marbles!" Naruto said pointing at Kayaba. "We all have a life outside SAO you know!"

" **You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life.** "

The looks of confusion turned to looks of horror.

"What?"

"Come on, enough already."

"Let's go."

A few people tried to leave, but is blocked by an invisible wall.

"Hey, I can't get out!"

"What's he talking about? He's gotta be nuts. Right?" Klein said turning to Naruto.

"No he's right. The transmitter's signal work just like microwaves. If the safety were disabled, it could fry a brain." Naruto frowned remembering the specs.

"Then, if we cut the power..." Klein tried to say.

"No." Naruto shook his head. "Unfortunately, the damn NerveGear has an internal battery."

"Wha? But this is crazy!" Klein protested shaking his head. "What's going on?"

" **Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignores this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world.** "

"Two hundred and thirteen?!" Naruto repeated horrified.

"I don't believe it." Klein whispered.

To prove the story was true, Kayaba materialized several screens with various news reports, and spread them across the crowd.

" **As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game.** "

Naruto shook with anger as he eyed one screen that had a crying mother and daughter outside their home where their precious person was lying in bed, trapped in the game.

" **But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops the zero, your avatar will be forever lost, and simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain after a ten second countdown.** "

The silence was deafening as everyone looked at Kayaba. As Naruto glared daggers at Kayaba.

" **There is only one means of escape, and only one: To complete the game.** " Kayaba revealed as he bought up a map of Aincard, " **You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincard: Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Your objective: Defeat the Final Boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game.** "

"Clear?"

"What's he talking about?"

"Y-You're just making that up!"

"Clear all hundred floors?" Klein repeated. "That's impossible. The beta testers never made it anywhere near that high!"

"What is this guy's angle?" Naruto growled.

" **Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves.** "

Everyone slowly opened their inventories to see what they got.

"Mirror?" Klein said.

"A mirror? Seriously?" Naruto blinked.

He and everyone else selected the mirror and now holding said item in their hands.

The second it landed on their hands a blue light enveloped their forms, with the result being a bright light radiating in the area before it died down quickly.

"Naruto, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Wait, who are you?"

"And who are you?"

The beta tester then looked at the mirror to find themselves in his real world appearance. Naruto looked like his regular self and everything. Being shocked he looked around it see that some of the girls turned to guys, some of the attractive turned ugly, some of the bluff turned fat, and some of the young turned older.

"You're a guy?"

"You were lying about being seventeen?"

"Which means..." Naruto blinked. "The person I'm looking at..."

He pointed at the now gruff looking Klein with short red hair as the top went backwards while he pointed at him.

"You're Naruto? / You're Klein?"

"But how?" Klein asked.

"That scan..." Naruto realized. "The NerveGear covers your entire head with a high-density signaling device. So it can see what your face looks like. But our height and body shape?" He frowned before his eyes widened. "Wait a minute..."

"When we first used the NerveGear, it had us calibrate it, right?" Klein asked, "You had to touch your body all over."

"O-Oh, right." Naruto nodded. "That must be where it got the data." He said feeling his tonned biceps.

"But...but...why?" Klein complained frustrated. "Why do all this, anyway?"

"That's the million dollar question my friend." Naruto said pointing to Kayaba. "And I'm sure he'll tell us."

" **Right now, you're probably wondering, "Why?" Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this? To answer the question, my goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason…To create this world and intervene in it.** "

"Kayaba..." Naruto growled in anger.

" **And now, it is complete.** "

Naruto growled harder and clentched his fists tightly.

" **This ends, the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck, players.** "

Kayaba disappeared in a flurry of red mist and blood-like liquid with the panels quickly dispersing turning the sky back to normal and leaving a loud silence.

 _"So, the reality Kayaba Akihiko created, is now our reality."_ Naruto thought musingly. _"This started out as a fun game, but now it's like some twisted challenge made from Jigsaw. This is real...The genius who created the NerveGear and created a completely virtual space, Kayaba Akihiko. I've read about everything he does when I was first picked for this. He always takes everything he does seriously, so I can tell... Everything he just said is true. If I'll die in the game, I will die in real life! The same goes for everyone!_ " He clentching his fist tighter. _"Kaa-chan, Tou-chan, and Sugu-chan must be devastated about this."_ Naruto thought about the sad and worried looks on his family's faces. _"Damn you, Kayaba..."_ He thought gritting his teeth.

The sound of a dropped mirror breaking shattered the silence, then a scream, snapping everyone out of their stupors.

Then...

Chaos.

"Screw you!"

"Let me out! Let me out of here!"

"I can't stay here! I have a meeting after this!"

"What are you thinking?!"

Mostly half the players started running for the exits, trampling and push each other out of the way.

"Let us go!"

"Tell us it's a lie!"

"Someone!"

"Can't anyone do something?"

Naruto looked around the area frowning before turning to Klein.

"Klein, come with me." He said whispered getting his attention as he grabbed his wrist and and lead him into one of the town's alleyways.

"What is it Naruto?" Klein asked.

"Listen to me. I'm about to head to the next village. Come with me." Naruto said.

"Huh?" Klein asked confused.

"If what he said is true, the only way to survive in this world is by making yourself as strong as possible." Naruto told him opening up a map. "The resources within a virtual MMORPG, in other words, the money and EXP we can earn, are limited until the next patch after the next one with certain job classes. The fields surrounding the Town of Beginnings will soon be hunted clean. To do this efficiently, we should head to the next village now. I know all the paths and dangerous areas from my solo runs. Even at level 1, I can get us there safely." Naruto explained.

"But Naruto, I spent the whole night in line to buy this with my friends from the other game." Klein said looking at the ground before looking at Naruto. "They're out there, in the plaza. I can't leave them."

 _"If it were just me and Klein."_ Naruto frowned looking down. _"But two more. Or even one more."_

"Sorry, but I can hardly ask you for anything else, so don't worry about me." Klein sighed smiling putting his hands on his hips "You head to the next village. I used to run a guild to my last game. I can use what you taught me to get by."

"All right." Naruto said walking off. "Then I guess it's goodbye from here. If something happens, send me a message."

"Will do." Klein nodded.

"You're a good guy, Klein. Standing by your friends." Naruto said turning fully around.

"Naruto!" Klein shouted making him stop and turn his head slightly to look at him. "Take care of yourself man." He then smirked. "You're actually pretty cute. You pull off the whole tomboy look. That's my type."

Naruto smiled before looking back at him.

"The same goes to you. And that unkempt face of yours suits you ten times better." He said before taking off.

Naruto kept going refusing to look back to push himself to move forward. Leaving the Town of Beginnings Naruto made his way through the fields as a determinated filled his body like never before.

He suddenly started to get flashback of his family.

 _"Tou-chan..."_

Minetaka and Naruto playing with paintball guns shooting other people snickering with fun.

 _"Kaa-chan..."_

Midori and Naruto racing on gokarts laughing trying to beat the other.

 _"Suguha..."_

Suguha and Naruto sitting on a hill looking over the city as the sun was setting and the former gave the latter a beautiful smile.

 _"I promise to you all..."_ Naruto said as a wolf appeared before him making him take out his sword and slashed it running by it as it exploded in a shower of blue data shards. _"I'll make it back to you guys one way or another. I will survive in this world!"_

"I SWEAR IT!" Naruto roared his voice echoing out.

* * *

 **Kirigaya Household**

Outside of the house Minetaka was hugging Midori and Suguha close as they were crying with the daughter in her hands and the mother holding her close devastated of the fate that awaited their brother/son as the father was just as heartbroken.

 _"Son, I pray that you survive in there. I know you'll make it back to us in one piece while facing any challenge in that twisted horrible game. Please Naruto keep yourself alive!"_ Minetaka thought to himself hugging his family tighter. _"For your family's sake!"_

* * *

 **One month later**

 _In the game's first month, 2000 players died. Floor 1 has yet to be cleared. – December 2, 2022._


	3. Fight to Live

**Hey everybody! D-nasty here and today is my birthday! I'm now 25 years old! WHOO! Anyway I'm bringing you the 3rd chapter of Warrior Gamer Online and I hope you like it.**

 **So enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 3 Fight to Live

 _"One month has passed since the game began. During that time, two thousand people have died. Yet not a single person has managed to clear the 1st Floor. Even I'm a beta tester, I still haven't found the boss room, leading to the conclusion that the location has changed from the beta. Today, we're finally holding a meeting on how to defeat Floor 1's Boss. Hopefully, everyone will finally learn how to organize and come to work together to survive. Then again, it's just wishful thinking."_

* * *

 **Floor 1: Village; December 2, 2022**

"Everyone seems intense just from this organized meeting alone. Then again we all want to get out of this game." Naruto walking towards the meeting place.

He was currently wearing different clothes that consist of red long sleeved shirt with a silver chestplate over it, brown pants, black belt with a gold buckle, and black boots with his sword on his back.

"I hope Klein is alright." He muttered to himself thinking about Klein and his friends he meet looking for the boss room, who all decided to stay behind and raise their levels by killing monsters and doing quests.

Naruto then sat down noticing that the meeting place looked like an old theatre.

 _"I wonder who made this meeting anyway?"_ Naruto thought before noticing somone standing in the center of the stage.

It was a young man having short blue hair that had bangs framming his face with matching blue eyes wearing blue waist coat, tan pants, and black boots, with bronze armor on his chest, shoulder, arms, shins, and with a large longsword on his left waist and a shield on his back.

 _"Probably that guy."_ Naruto guessed as he looked around checking out the players. He noticed someone covering themselves with a cloak that's reddish-brown with a green rapier in a red scabbard on their left hip.

"Okay!" The blue-haired man called for attention. "Thank you for coming today at my behalf. My name is Diabel." The blue-haired man introduced himself. "I like to think of myself as a knight." He said with a laugh with the other players laughing with him.

"There's no job system in this game yet!"

"A knight? You should take this more seriously!"

"Is this whole meeting a joke too?"

Then the laughter died down as Diabel turned serious.

"Today, our party found the Boss at the top of the tower." He said getting everyone's undivided attention. "We need to defeat the boss, reach the 2nd Floor, and tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it's possible to beat this game. That is the duty of everyone here today! Don't you all agree?!"

Naruto glanced over the crowd, noticing their nervous looks, but soon smiled and began to clap and whistle, showing their reaction with Diabel's plan.

 _"Nice inspirational speech."_ Naruto smiled.

"Okay, let's start working this out. First, divide up into parties of six."

Naruto looked around to see the other people around them started discussing who they'll team up with as Diabel continued.

"A single party has no chance against a Floor Boss. We need to form a raid group composed of multiple parties." Diabel explained as groups started partying up.

Naruto noticed the one in the reddish-brown cloak all alone before they were joined by another person in a cloak that was dark purple only for the hood to be down showing it was a short lavender haired girl with red violet eyes having a purple greatsword with silver edges strapped to her back.

"Are you two solo players joining up?" Naruto asked walking up to them. "If so, can I join for this mission?"

The cloaked swordsperson and lavender haired girl looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Naruto.

"That guy Diabel said that we can't beat the boss on our own." Naruto said. "We can all party just for this fight."

After a moment the two unknown players agreed.

Naruto scrolled through the menu, sending out friend invites to the others around him. The other two unknowns accepted shortly after. Naruto checked the added health bars under his name.

It showed the names Strea and Asuna.

A few minutes later Diabel called for attention.

"Okay, has everyone formed their parties?" He asked receiving nods. "Then-"

"Hold on a moment there!" A voice with a dialect accent from a guy shouted from the top of the theatre. He jumped down skipping several before jumping directly to the stage.

"Now what?" Naruto frowned looking at the guy.

He has spiky brown hair with matching brown eyes, a small brown goatee, and wearing basic clothes and armor.

"My name's Kibaou." The man introduced himself. "I wanna say something before we take on the boss. Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand people who've died!" He declared pointing to the gathering players.

"What the hell's he talking about." The lavender haired girl asked. "What's this about?"

In response Naruto put his head in right hand sighing as he glared at Kibaou.

"Kibaou-san," Diabel addressed him. "Could you perhaps be referring to the beta testers?"

"Of course!" Kibaou confirmed. "The beta guys ditched us beginners and disappeared the day this stupid game started! They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. They couldn't care less about the rest of us."

 _"Is he serious?"_ Naruto deadpanned. _"Didn't this guy read the manual, or the latest updated guidebook that just came out?"_ He thought while trying to stifle a yawn while Kibaou started ranting again.

"I'm damn sure some of you here were in the beta!" He accused everyone. "They should get on their knees, apologize, and give up all the items and money they're hoarded! Otherwise, we can't trust these party members with our lives, and they shouldn't trust us!"

"Is this idiot for real?" Naruto grumbled. "This is why I don't do politics."

"May I speak?" A deep voice asked.

Everyone looked to see a massive and dark skinned bulky bald man with a brown goatee, brown eyes, two earrings on his left ear, and wearing a woodcutter outfit with armor and an axe on his back stand up and walk over to Kibaou shadowing him.

"My name is Agil." The black man introduced himself. "Kibaou-san, let me get this straight. You're saying many beginners died because the beta testers didn't take care of them, and that they should take responsibility, apologize, and provide compensation. Is that it?"

"Y-Yeah." Kibaou stuttered intimidated by the larger man's presence.

Agil dug in his pockets and pulled out a small brown book.

"You got a copy of this guidebook, didn't you? The item shops were giving them away." He said.

"I did, yeah." Kibaou nodded. "So what?"

"It was complied from data provided by the beta testers willing to help us normal players out." Agil revealed surprising almost everyone in the area and making Kibaou grit his teeth in anger.

"Listen up." Agil said turning around and addressing everyone. "Everyone had equal access to this information, yet many players died, even some of the beta testers themselves. I thought we would be discussing what we could learn from their deaths and how that can help us defeat the boss."

Naruto smiled at that. He was part of the few beta testers who contributed the information they're learned to make the guidebook for everyone. Most of the information he gave was mostly information about all the current quests and the warnings about taking the quests.

"Looks like not all hope is lost with players like this guy." Naruto said.

"Yeah, but-" Kibaou protested.

"Hey, asshat!"

Everyone now looked up to see Naruto's party with the lavender haired girl standing up and glaring at Kibaou.

"My name is Strea, and no, I'm not a beta tester." She revealed. "I'm just a player, like everyone here. You're right, there are beta testers who're in this of themselves, but the guidebook we all received shows that there are beta testers who care for our well-being. How dare you shift the blame of the two thousand players' deaths on them after what they did for us, you baka!"

Kibaou was at a loss for words as nearly everyone started clapping for Strea. She smiled and sat down, while Agil turned over his shoulder and glared at Kibaou, who gave up and sat on the bottom steps folding his arms. Agil went back to his own seat, his job done, giving the floor to Diabel.

"All right, let's continue then." Diabel said glad that the conflict had done and held up his own guidebook. "The latest edition of that guidebook was just published, and it contains information on the boss. According to the guidebook, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He's guarded by underlings known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He is armed with an axe and a buckler. He has four HP bars, and when the last one enters the red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a talwar. His attack pattern changes as well."

"Wow..."

"Amazing."

With the information delivered Diabel closed his book.

"This concludes the briefing. As for how the spoils will be distributes, money will be automatically shared amongst all players, EXP will go to the party that defeats the monsters, and whoever receives items gets to keep it. Any objections?"

There was nothing as Diabel gave everyone the once-over.

"Okay, we leave at ten in the morning tomorrow. Dismissed!"

Everyone got up and some of them left. The others went down to Diabel for a discussion while Agil had Kibaou apologize to Diabel for his behavior. With all the smiling going on down there, it looks like everyone's getting along.

"Well guys, I'm gonna farm some stuff." Naruto declared. "Who's in?"

The cloaked one, Asuna, just got up and left, so that left Naruto and Strea.

"I guess it's just us." Strea said.

"Seems so. Well then, let's go get those points." Naruto said.

Strea nodded as she left with Naruto as Diabel was frowning at them as they disappeared.

* * *

 **Floor 1: Western Fields**

"So tell me about yourself?" Strea asked as she defeated a wolf. "You seem like you have a good head on their shoulders."

"Well the name's Naruto. I'm a skilled swordsman, I'm easy to get along with, and I'm pretty loyal to my friends and comrades." Naruto said as he stepped on a slime.

"Nice. As for me as you already know. I'm Strea. I'm a great swordwoman, and I like to think I'm plenty badass." Strea said.

"So you're one of those strong women type huh?" Naruto smirked slashing through another wolf.

"You better believe I am." Strea grinned. "And you seem like a strong man yourself."

"You could say that. I'm a protector to those who are important to me. As long as you're with me I'll never let any of my friends, or anyone in my party die!" Naruto declared killing another wolf.

"Keh! We only just met, but I'll hold you to that." Strea said winking at her teammate swinging her greatsword around in a wide arc and killing three monsters in one stroke.

"Then I shall keep my word with gusto." Naruto said doing a playful knight pose setting his foot on a boar's head.

"I can tell being around you will never be boring." Strea laughed.

* * *

 **Floor 1: Nighttime**

All the players in the village participating in the campaign were enjoying themselves as much as they since tomorrow is not promising. They ate, drank, shared stories, and laughed with each other.

Meanwhile Asuna was sitting alone at a bench try to eat a stale piece of bread.

"Taste bland doesn't it?" Asked a voice behind Asuna who turned around to see Naruto and Strea.

"You don't mind if we sit there do you?" Naruto asked.

Asuna shook her head, letting her party members next to her. Each of them took out the same kind of bread she has and began to eat.

"It does taste bland, but this is all we have until we reach the next floor." Asuna said quietly. "I'm sure one eating the same bread every day for a month can get used to the taste."

"Yeah, but it doesn't hurt to change it up every once in a while." Naruto said as he dug in his pocket.

"Change it up?" Asuna repeated when Naruto took out a jar and set it on the bench.

"Yep. Try putting some of this on the bread." Naruto offered putting his finger on the jar and drawing on a semi-transparent blue ball of light to swipe on his bread, followed by a curious Strea and Asuna.

"Cream?" Asuna asked a surprised as the jar of cream shattered from losing it's durability.

"Custard cream to be exact." Naruto said as he began eating his bread with custard cream with gusto while having a bliss expression on his face.

"..."

"..."

Asuna and Strea looked at each other before they both bit into their bread and froze.

"Are they lagging?" Naruto wondered when they didn't move for a few seconds.

Suddenly they devoured the rest of their bread at a fast pace and then let out a sigh of content.

"Where exactly did you get this cream from?" Strea asked curious.

"Along was the recipe, it's a reward for a quest called "The Heifer Strikes Back" at the village before this town." Naruto answered as he finished his bread. "If you'd like, I can lead you to the quest so that you can complete it."

"Thank you, but good food isn't the reason I came to this town." Asuna said shaking her head.

"Why did you then?" Naruto asked.

"So I can still be me." Asuna said playing her hands. "I'd rather remain myself until the very end than sit and rot away at some inn in the first town. Even if I get killed by a monster, I don't want to lose to this game, to this world, no matter what. I'm sure you feel the same, Strea-san."

Naruto turned to Strea, who looked surprised.

"How can you tell?" she asked quietly, her hair shadowing her eyes.

"You have the same eyes I do." Asuna said simply. "Eyes that show the refusal to kneel over and die while everyone else is fighting."

Everyone was quiet for awhile.

"I wouldn't want a party member to die on me." Naruto said before standing up. "Like I told Strea earlier, you have my word that none of you will die while you're partying with me. You can trust me when I tell you that you will all live to see the end of the boss fight." He said strongly.

* * *

 **Floor 1: Forest Field, December 3, 2022**

The raiding group composed of multiple parties trekked their way through the forest with the tower as their destination, with Naruto's party bringing up the rear.

"Alright team, let's go over the plan. Our dear leader Diabel assigned us as Group F and gave us the job of targeting the boss's underlings, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels, as well as providing support for the other groups if they need it." Naruto told his team.

"What are the group's jobs?" Strea asked looking over her greatsword.

"Groups A and B are heavy armored Tank parties. Groups C, with Diabel the leader of Group C, are high movement Assault parties. Groups D-F are long weapon support parties. Luckily, the group we're assigned to help the most is Kibaou's group, Group E." Naruto explained. "Use sword skills to knock away their poleaxes and regular attacks to damage them. The moment they're inflicted with the Stagger effect, use Tag Team and Unison attacks to defeat them."

"Tag Team and Unison attacks?" Asuna and Strea asked with question marks appearing on their heads.

"Is this the first time you two have been in a party?" Naruto asked.

"Hai." They both answered.

Naruto sighed while shaking his head.

"Basically, Tag Team attacks is when you attack together with another player, and Unison attacks when you attack with two or more players in a party. Depending on the attack used, they target one, two, or more enemies. Ok?" Naruto explained.

"Anything else we should know?" Strea asked. "Like the overall strategy?"

"The two Tank parties will keep the attention and sustain the pressure on the boss." Naruto said. "Assault Parties C and D will concentrate on the dealing damage to the boss, while the Assault Party E will focus their attention on the sentinels. The Support parties would primarily use the Delay skill to interrupt either the boss's or guards' attacks, and relieve pressure whenever possible."

"They should've sent a scouting party." Asuna muttered. "The information from the boss battle is from the Closed Beta. What if things are different?"

"Then we'll just have warn them." Strea shrugged.

"Not to mention save the others' asses." Naruto added.

* * *

 **Floor 1: Tower, December 3, 2022**

After fighting through the dungeon, the raiding party finally made it to the entrance to the boss room. Diabel stood in front of them, looking over the players he gathered for this fight.

"Well, I just have one thing to say." Diabel said. "Let win this!"

Everyone nodded as Diabel shouted.

"Let's go!"

He pushed the doors opened and everyone walked into the room with weapons in hand cautiously. Naruto took note that the room is twenty meters wide by 100 meters deep.

As soon as everyone was in, a light spread all over, illuminating the room, as a figure landed in front of the raiding party.

He is over two meters tall, muscular, covered in red and blue-grey fur, and its eyes are golden-red. In its hands is a bone axe and a leather shield. Behind its waist is the supposed Talwar weapon.

When it touched down, it roared, the force blowing over all the players as it's name is revealed along with four HP bears.

 **[Illfang the Kobold Lord]**

Along with it's roar, three demi-human monsters in white night armor spawned in front of Illfang with one HP bar.

 **[Ruin Kobold Sentinel]**

All four monsters started charging at the raiding party, signaling the beginning of the boss fight.

"Here they come!" Strea shouted.

"Commence the attack!" Diabel ordered, with players running at their only obstacles to the 2nd Floor and charged their sword skills to clash with the Kobolds.

Groups A to C engage Illfang at the front while Groups E and F engage the sentinels. After a few minutes, Illfangs first HP gauge is depleted, with Group A rotating out with Group C allowing them to engage Illfang for the second HP gauge. Around that time, the Tank groups HP were in the yellow region. Five minutes later, The second HP gauge is depleted. Group F changes targets and moves to engage Illfang while Groups D and E deplete Illfang's third HP gauage out of four. After half of it's fourth HP is depleted, Groups A and B moved to attack Illfang while Group C disrupted it's attacks.

All of this happened in a span of fifteen minutes, and so far so good, no one died yet.

"Group C, keeping guarding and prepare to switch on my mark." Diabel ordered. "Switch, draw, and prepare to attack from the side. Groups D, E. and F, continue to keep Sentinels away from us!"

"Roger that!" Naruto shouted as he and his party were on the verge of defeating the last two Sentinels. "Okay, guys! Take it!" He shouted as he disrupted and knocked back a Sentinel.

"Let's go, Asuna-san!" Strea shouted as she rushed in with her.

"Hai, Strea-san!" Asuna responded as they closed in.

"Multi Cross Barrage!" They yelled with Asuna attacking with multiple linear thrusts with Strea attacking with multiple slash attacks at the same time.

"Heh, calling them beginners won't cut it with those two." Naruto smirked as he watched Asuna and Strea in action. "They're so fast I bet anyone else but me can follow their blades." He focused on the last Sentinel and attacked with a few quick slashes staggering it. "The last one! Strea, Asuna, get back!" Naruto shouted charging in as he passed Strea and Asuna.

"Blade-a-Rang!" Naruto shouted tossing his sword making it spin and collide with the Sentinel causing it to fly through the air. Catching his sword that flew back to him in a reverse grip, Naruto jumped and was over the Sentinel and pulled his arm back as his sword glowed orange. "Spin Attack!" Naruto spinned in a tornado attacking with multiple slashes all over the body, eliminating the last of the Sentinels.

"Whoa! Now that's impressive!" Strea smiled impressed with Asuna nodding in agreement.

"All right!" Naruto cheered landing before he then turned back to Illfang to find that the giant boss's HP is finally in the red. "It's time team. Get ready!"

Naruto's party and some of the other players prepared themselves as Illfang tossed away his axe and shield.

"Looks like that guidebook was right on the money!" Kibaou said with a victorious grin.

"Stand back!"

Everyone looked at Diabel confused as he rushed in. "I'll finish him!"

"What?" Strea said dumbfounded. "But this where the whole group is supposed to surround the boss at the same time with multiple Unison attacks."

It was then Naruto realized what Diabel's interior motive was.

 _"Motherfucker! He's going after the Last Attack Bonus!"_ Naruto thought.

As Diabel overcharged his sword skill to finished off the boss and moved in to attack, Illfang reach behind himself to pull out his secondary weapon, and it was not curved as described in the guidebook, to Naruto's horror.

"Son of a bitch!" Naruto cursed. "Asuna was right!"

"What?" Strea asked. "What's wrong?"

"That's not a talwar! It's a nodachi!" Naruto revealed. "You idiot! That's not a talwar!" He roared drawing everyone's attention except Diabel's. "We need to regroup before it targets you!"

But it was too late, as Illfang targeted Diabel and suddenly jumped up and hopped around from pillar to pillar at an awfully fast pace shocking the hell out of Diabel before it landed back on the ground while delivering a vicious slash in the form of a Critical Hit to Diabel, inflicting him with the Stun status effect. Diabel was knocked into the air screaming in pain from the huge gash he received, but Illfang was not done. Illfang delivered a brutal hit to Diabel, knocking him further into the air and staggering him, and then hit him with a four-hit combo with the last hit slamming him back into the ground.

"Diabel!" Kibaou cried as Illfang landed in front of the rest of the raiding party and roared, scaring the crap out of them.

"Diabel!" Naruto shouted he and his party members ran to his aid.

"He's losing HP, fast." Strea said horrified.

"Why the hell did you try and face it alone you idiot?" Naruto snapped as he pulled out a potion. "I know you saw that wasn't a talwar Illfang whipped out."

Naruto was about to heal Diabel when the latter stopped him.

"Idiot! What are you doing?" Naruto growled as he tried to heal Diabel.

"It's okay." Diabel said weakly. "But you'd know why I tried to do what I did, if you were also a beta tester, right?"

"You wanted the rare item from the Last Attack Bonus. So you were a beta tester." Naruto frowned in realization.

Diabel smiled as he started to glow. "Please...Defeat...Defeat the boss and save everyone. For their sake...It's up to you guys now..."

With that Diabel closed his eyes as he shattered into blue data fragment, signifying his death to everyone's horror.

"Diabel, even though you were one of those selfish beta testers, you never abandoned the other players. Despite you wanting the Last Attack Bonus from the boss, you led everyone and fought alongside them brilliantly. For that, you have my respect." Naruto muttered. "Rest in peace, Diabel."

"So what now, Naruto-san?" Strea asked severely shaken but not closing her grip on her greatsword.

Naruto looked over at Illfang who roared at the players and twirled his sword around.

"We fight, to live towards tomorrow. Who's with me?" Naruto asked standing up.

Strea nodded hesitantly while Asuna however went next to Naruto's side.

"I'll go too." She said tightly griping her rapier.

"Thanks." Naruto nodded. "Now let's do this. We'll do it just like we did with the Sentinels. Let's go!"

Naruto and his group charged at Illfang, who sent the other players in full retreat. He saw Naruto's party running at him and targeted them.

"Surround and stagger him! Disrupt the first hit of his sword combos to stop his attacks!" Naruto ordered. "Once he's staggered, time your Tag Team and Unison attacks then switch so he won't attack. We'll try to finish him within one stagger cycle!"

Naruo charged with his sword skill and parried Illfang's attack. Next, Strea knocked Illfang back as Asuna quickly followed rushed in to attack before it's Stagger Gauge depletes, as Illfang quickly recovered.

"Asuna!" Naruto shouted.

"Look out!" Strea screamed.

Thanks to their warning, she managed to dodge Illfang's attack at the last second, but lost her cloaks in the process but counter attacked with a linear, finally Staggering Illfang and sending him flying.

Naruto and Strea looked in awe at their finally unmasked comrade.

Asuna has long orange-brownish chestnut hair that reached her hips with bangs over her ears going to her hips too and two braided braids going behind her head in a ponytail with hazel eyes and a nice slime figure with C-cup breasts wearing a white sweater with a dark red vest over it, a red skirt, white leggings, and brown boots.

"So this is Asuna." Naruto smiled. "She's quite the babe. She should keep the cloak off." He then looked at Strea. "We can't lose our momentum, specially since the enemy's still staggered!"

"Right." Strea nodded as she and Naruto rushed in to attack.

Illfang was having a really bad day as his attacks were repeatedly interrupted and he was hit with multiple team attacks. Roaring, he lashed out, catching Naruto off guard. He flew back with a gash on his body from the attack as the girls caught him. They were terrified to see his HP drop to half. Illfang then overshadowed the group and charged up his weapon, intent on ending their lives. The girls closed their eyes and bought up their weapons to block, but a sudden attack interrupted Illfang's attack. The girls opened their eyes to find Agil saving them as he knocked back Illfang.

"We'll hold them off until you recover!" Agil said as the other players charged in.

"Thanks man." Naruto responded as he and his party brought out potions.

The raiding party overwhelmed Illfang, but Illfang finally recovered from the Stagger infliction and counterattack, knocking back most the players. Illfang then jumped up and about to use a devastating sword skills on all the downed players with it's nodachi.

It was at this point that Naruto and his team finally recovered.

"Watch out!"

Naruto rushed in to intercept Illfang's intentions.

"We'll get you first!" Naruto roared as he parried Illfang's attack and slashed it down. "Eat this!" Naruto's blade glow an eerie color and swung it at Illfang, damaging him and knocking him to the other side of the room.

"Asuna! Strea!" Naruto shouted as he charged at the downed Illfang with the girls catching up. "Time to end this once and for all! Attack, and don't let up!"

"Got it!" They girls nodded.

They all roared battle cries as they ran straight forward to a recovering Illfang.

"I don't think so!" Strea yelled as she parried Illfang's attack away from her party.

Asuna then rushed forward and with multiple lightning-quick linears. Naruto then came forward and gave Illfang a slash across it's chest, triggering a Critical Hit and making it roar in pain.

"Time to finish it!" Naruto yelled as Asuna and Strea drew back. Naruto roared as he slashed through the giant boss's body upward into the air before jumping over his holding his sword in both hands as the blade glowed giving off a bright light. "Critical Impact!" He slammed the sword down going through Illfang's body and kneeled down to the floor, depleting it's HP. Illfang roared for one last time until it shattered into blue data fragments and left behind a message in mid-air.

 **[Congratulations!]**

"We...we did it!" Shouted a random player.

Everyone cheered and celebrated as notices appeared around them; now believing that it's possible to complete the game and get back to the real world.

"Nice." Strea said looking at Naruto who got the unique notice.

 **[Congratulations] – [You got the last attacking bonus!]**

 **[*BONUS ITEM*] – [COAT OF DAWN]**

"Good work." Asuna praised.

"That was splendid swordsmanship." Agil added coming up to the group. "Congratulations. We owe this victory to you all."

"We're just doing our part to save everyone from this eternal nightmare." Naruto shrugged as every clapped for Naruto's group.

"Why?!"

Kibaou's voice echoes through the room.

"Why did you let Diabel die?!" Kibaou cried.

"Let him die? What exactly do you mean by that?!" Naruto snapped not in the mood for negativity.

"That right! You and your group knew the techniques that the boss used! If you had given us that information from the get-go, Diabel wouldn't have died!" Kibaou yelled at him.

"Just what are you implying, you fucker?!" Naruto asked angrily.

"They must've been beta testers!" A random player accused. "That's how some of them knew all the boss's attack patterns! They knew, but didn't tell us!"

 _"This isn't good."_ Naruto thought.

"There are other beta-testers here too, right? Show yourselves!" The random player shouted causing murmurs along the crowd as they looked at each other.

"Not good at all." Naruto muttered. "At this rate, there'll be distrust along all the players, and they'll never get out of this game."

Naruto knew he had to do something or else. Thinking of one of his crazy ideas, Naruto just smiled.

"Hey, come on." Agil said trying to calm Kibaou and the other players down.

"Yeah, there no prove that my teammate is-" Strea started before a evil trolling laughter echoed throughout the boss room, making everyone turn to the source.

Naruto.

"Wha-What are you all laughing about?" Kibaou asked scared like the others at the outburst.

"A beta tester you say?" Naruto asked with an evil glint in his eyes. "You got balls the size of bowling balls to compare me to those fucking newbies. In fact, I rather prefer you didn't."

"Wh-What?!" Kibaou stuttered.

"Naruto..." Strea started slowly. "What's going on with you?"

"You want to know an interesting truth?" Naruto smirked. "I found out that Diabel was a beta tester when I tried to heal him." He revealed drawing shocked looks from the others. "But out of all the beta testers I've met, he's gained my respect, not to mention he helped us all. There's another fact." Naruto spoke up as he walked forward with the other players stepping back. "Most of the thousand SAO beta testers were beginners like you who didn't even know how to level up. Hell, by the time this game came out, most of them were still stuck at Level 1. I'll give credit where credit's due, you guys are better than they are. But I am not like them."

Naruto then stopped in the middle of the crowd.

"Here's something some of you numbnuts should know. While the other beta testers were stuck on Floor 02, I made it further up than anyone else during the beta test!" Naruto declared. "And to clarify, I only knew about the boss's katana skills because I've fought many katana-wielding monsters on floors far above here and there!" Naruto snarled, mostly directly at the random player making them shake in fright stepping back.

"To sum to up, Kibaou-san, I'm the best damn beta testers SAO's ever produced!" Naruto declared straight in Kibaou's face.

"Wh-what?" Kibaou took a step back. "That's way worse than a beta tester! You are cheating! You're a cheater!"

"Yeah, cheater!"

"A Beta tester and a cheater..."

"He's a Beater!"

Asuna and Strea sweatdropped at the name and looked at their party member who is now called a Beater.

"Wow, there's an awful lot of butt-hurt here." Naruto laughed. "Beater eh?" He gave an evil smirk. "I like the sound of that. From now on I'm a Beater, and I don't give a fuck what you fools think of me. So from now on, don't you dare put me with those other testers, or I will fuck you up."

As he said this, Naruto opened his inventory and selected the Coat of Dawn, equipping it. Naruto now wore a red trenchcoat over his basic gear and clothes. He looked at the players and smirked.

"Plus, since I now know that the way bosses fight will be different from the Closed Beta, some of the information in the guidebook about the bosses should now be taken with a grain of salt, but don't let that stop you." Naruto said before turning around. "See you cry babies later."

As he walked off and reached the steps to the next floor, Asuna and Strea caught up to him.

"Wait."

He stopped and turned to his party members.

"That was one badass display." Strea smiled. "No doubt the heat's off the beta testers, right?"

"It should." Naruto shrugged. "Hope you weren't offended."

"Of course not." Strea said shaking her head.

"There is something I want to address." Asuna spoke up. "You called out my name when we were fighting, and I know I only told my name to Strea-san."

"Sorry if I referred to you impolitely." Naruto apologized. "Did I mess up the pronunciation?"

"How did you know it?" Asuna asked.

"What?" Naruto pointed to a spot in his HUD. "You can see other HP gauges below yours, around here, right? Do you see other names?"

Asuna looked at her HUD and finally saw her teammates' names for the first time.

"Strea. Na-ru-to." She read. "Oh..."

"So you can see them." Strea teased her.

"Yeah. So they were there the whole time!" Asuna giggled.

Strea facepalmed while Naruto did a comedic faceplant before getting back up.

"Geez, you gotta pay more attention." Naruto grumbled. "But you and Strea will go far."

"What?" Asuna and Strea said surprised.

"What I mean is that you'll soon become really powerful." Naruto clarified. "So if someone you trust ever invites you to join a Guild, don't turn them down. There's a big limit to what you can do as a solo player." Naruto added.

"But what about you?" Asuna asked.

"As for me, I'll just take myself wherever the wind goes I guess." Naruto said. "As from now on, I consider you two my friends. So make sure you make it from this game. And who knows? I might treat you both to dinner." He smirked.

That comment got an embarrassed look and blush on Strea and Asuna's face causing Naruto to laugh and wave off heading to the 2nd Floor.

"What will you do, Strea-san?" Asuna asked as Strea took them both out of the party.

"Me? Well, I'll get stronger first before joining up with Naruto in the future. You?" Strea asked looking at Asuna.

"I'll get stronger and join a Guild so that my skills will get put to good use." Asuna said.

"Good luck." Strea nodded as she disbanded the party.

"You too." Asuna nodded back.

Asuna went ahead to the second floor as Strea walked past the raiding group and back to the first floor to deliver the news that the raiding was successful and it is possible to clear the game. Along the way, she bro-fisted Agil and made her way through the forest.

 _"Shit will continue to happen to all of us in this game..."_ Strea thought looking up. _"But I know if we work together, we can pull through."_


End file.
